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EnVision OKC

As OKC looks ahead, we know that a Rabbinic transition is in our future. This pending shift marks a major milestone for our congregation, and can signal a variety of emotions within our community: anticipation, speculation, opportunity, change, fear of the unknown, and even loss.

Enter EnVision OKC

EnVision OKC is a multi-pronged community engagement and visioning campaign specifically designed for our congregation with the goal of preparing our community for change.

Spanning six months, EnVision OKC will include many different opportunities for members of our community to interact with each other in formal and informal settings with the purpose of elevating the consciousness within our community to identify who we are, name our strengths, recognize our opportunities, and visualize our hopes for our shared future.

Participating in EnVision OKC can occur in the building, from your home, by yourself, in small groups, and/or in large groups, as often or as little. OKC members are invited to participate in as many or as few ways as possible.

Below are some FAQs about EnVision OKC. Information will be made available in each bulletin between now and June, and is available on the OKC website at: http://ohrkodesh.org/EnVision

What is EnVision OKC?

EnVision OKC is a multi-pronged community engagement campaign specifically designed for our congregation. EnVision OKC will consist of several components. Participating in EnVision OKC can occur in the building, from your home, by yourself, in small groups, and/or in large groups. So far, the elements of the campaign include: four large, facilitated community meetings; an online survey; Shabbat Conversation Starters; and a building specific installation.

Who is EnVision OKC for?

EnVision OKC is a community outreach campaign that we hope will touch EVERY member of our OKC community. There will be several opportunities to contribute your opinions, and to make your voice heard throughout the process.

When will EnVision OKC happen?

The EnVision OKC Campaign will occur between January and June 2019.

Where will EnVision OKC happen?

EnVision OKC is designed to seek maximum input from as many community members as possible. This means that there will be events and installations in the building, opportunities to participate online, guided conversations in the homes of our community members, and more. OKC community members can participate as much or as little as they wish, in as many places as they wish.

Why are we even doing this and why should I care?

We know that Rabbinic change is coming. We must prepare ourselves for this shift, and what this will mean for our community. In advance of the Rabbinic search process, EnVision OKC will offer different opportunities for individuals to voice opinions about our community – including our strengths, what makes us unique, where we may look for improvement, and, ultimately, our vision for our future.

So, are we starting our Rabbi search early?

No; EnVision OKC is not part of the Rabbinic search process. EnVision OKC is a community exercise in preparing for the Rabbinic search process. EnVision OKC has been developed with the advice and guidance of other Congregations around the country who have experienced similar transitions in their life cycles, and has been designed using best practices in community engagement and facilitation.

How will EnVision OKC be used?

Information gathered through EnVision OKC will be synthesized and shared within our community. The information we gather will directly contribution to OKC’s Rabbinic search, which will commence in the fall of 2019.

I notice the Community Conversations include two listed as “Open Space,” and two listed as “World Cafés.” What’s the difference?

All Community Conversations will be facilitated engagements, but the two formats present different designs, and have different intentions.

The Open Space concept provides a format where participants create and manage the agenda by advancing conversations that matter to them. Participants will have the chance to suggest the topics they wish to discuss, and rotate among conversations as they wish, in the order they wish, and to the extent that they wish. The Open Space Conversations will be held in the OKC Social Hall on Sun, Jan 13 from 10am-noon and on Tues, Feb 12 from 7-9pm.

The World Café concept, by contrast, offers a way for small groups of people to have focused and deep conversations about questions that matter. Participants will have the chance to rotate around a variety of tables, each of which is dedicated to a pre-determined question. At each table, participants discuss the topic for a set period of time with the help of a dedicated facilitator and scribe. Over the course of the entire Conversation, each participant will spend time discussing each pre-determined question. The World Café Conversations will be held in the OKC Social Hall on Sun, Feb 24 from noon-2pm and on Mon, Mar 11 from 7-9pm.

Should I plan on attending more than one Community Conversation?

You are welcome to attend as few or as many Conversations as you wish; each will present a different experience. Because the Open Space concept is shaped based on what the participants in the room wish to discuss, the conversation offerings will vary between the two dates. Both the World Café Conversations, however, will be structured based on the same pre-determined questions, so while the nuances of the conversation will vary, the overall topics will remain the same on both dates.

What are These Conversation Starters all about?

The idea behind the Conversation Starters is to honor the notion that members of our community will likely be discussing EnVision OKC with each other informally in their homes and around communal meals. Conversation Starters will be provided during EnVision OKC to offer an invitation for framing these conversations in a way that is similar across the board. We invite you to email the main takeaways from these conversations to EnVisionOKC [at] ohrkodesh [dot] org so that we can synthesize the themes that are being shared within our community.

So, am I supposed to invite people over with the intent of discussing EnVision OKC?

We’re not asking you to do anything out of your ordinary routine. However, we know that OKC members get together informally. When you do, and when the topic turns to EnVision OKC, we would be interested to hear the results of these conversations if you are comfortable sharing. Informal conversations often produce the most honest feedback. This is why we are providing Conversation Starters, which will be shared around Feb/March 2019. We’d ask that any major takeaways from these Conversation Starters be emailed to EnVisionOKC [at] ohrkodesh [dot] org.

It’s been said that EnVision OKC is not a part of the Rabbi Search, but it seems to me that this is very much a part of the Rabbi Search. What’s this all about?

While EnVision OKC is not a formal part of the Rabbinic search process, the EnVision OKC campaign is predicated on the fact that we will be facing a Rabbi search in our future.

EnVision OKC is a community exercise in preparing for the Rabbinic search process. Information gathered through EnVision OKC will be synthesized and shared within our community. The information we gather will contribute to OKC’s Rabbinic search, but the Rabbinic search process itself is a much more formalized and nuanced process.

More information on the relationship between EnVision OKC and the Rabbinic search process can be viewed in the graphic, below.